17-02-2022, 04:40 PM
Yesterday, TelevisaUnivision announced the launch of a new streaming superbrand for Spanish-speaking audiences, ViX. This platform is the result of a big media merger integrating a two-nation media group.
Let's contextualize a bit: on April 2021, Televisa announced a deal with Univision Communications to merge most of its properties into a new binational company combining over 5,000 hours of original material (including its prized telenovela archive) and the direct operation of six networks in the US and Mexico (Univision, UniMás, Las Estrellas, FOROtv, Canal 5 and Nu9ve). As a condition of antitrust authorities in Mexico, Televisa had to retain its telecom, editorial and sports properties under their direct control, whilst having the majority stake in the merged company; the production of news and local programming, as well as the station licenses and technical infrastructure were warehoused to a separate company, Tritón Comunicaciones. The merger was approved with no need to divest any brand on September 2021 by the Mexican regulators, and on January by the FCC, the merger was completed at the end of that month, resulting on TelevisaUnivision. The merged company is led by Univision CEO Wade Davis (former Viacom CFO and owner of hedge fund ForgeLight, stakeholder of Univision) and Pierluigi Gazzolo (former Paramount Global CEO for Latin America) as the company's President. Alfonso de Angoitia is the Chairman of the merged company.
The principal need for the merger: create a superbrand for a new OTT platform designed for Spanish-speaking audiences worldwide, superseding blimTV in Mexico and PrendeTV/Univision Now in the US. The platform is named ViX, reusing the name of a former social media content provider for Hispanic audiences which had since evolved as a AVOD service resulting on the acquisition of a competing platform, Pongalo TV.
![[Image: ViX-TelevisaUnivision.jpg]](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ViX-TelevisaUnivision.jpg)
The service will launch in the U.S., Mexico and most of Hispanic Latin America on March 31st, as a free AVOD service using infrastructure provided by the Google Cloud Platform and SoftBank (which are also stakeholders in the merged company), replacing the aforementioned OTT services. Users of all three services in the U.S. and Mexico are able to use a beta version starting Wednesday. It will be complimented by a premium tier, ViX+, which will feature exclusive original content, set to launch this fall/autumn. The founder of the original VIX, Rafael Urbina, is the president of the new service, whilst former Netflix executive for Mexico, Rodrigo Mazón, is leading the premium content division. Michael Cerdá, which was behind the product and the UI of Disney+, ESPN+ and Star+, is leading the product and engineering process.
![[Image: ViX-Mobile-App-TelevisaUnivision.jpg]](https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/ViX-Mobile-App-TelevisaUnivision.jpg)
The freemium model used by Peacock is the core method of the service: the free tier will focus on existing Televisa and Univision properties, including its prized library of telenovelas, which have been exported to over 100 countries. The service will also offer a selected library of exports, all dubbed into Latin American Spanish, coming from providers like Caracol Televisión, Ay Yapım, Tims Productions, Lionsgate, MGM and The Walt Disney Studios (in a non-exclusive contract). The service is also offering a live channel offering, including over 100 services, both live and playlisted, with the more attractive offering being live news channels, three of which are being produced by the group: Univision's Noticias Univision 24/7, and two channels from Televisa/Tritón: FOROtv and a ViX-exclusive channel, and a sports-exclusive channel from TUDN, plus beIN Sports XTRA en Español (only available in the US). It will also stream 30 FTA matches from the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Latin American users, except in Argentina.
The ViX+ premium tier will offer such content, plus ad-free access, and original content from 3Pas Studios (owned by Eugenio Derbez and Ben Odell), Propagate, Mediacrest, Dynamo, Mediapro, Selena Gomez, Mario Vargas Llosa and Salma Hayek-Pinault, among others. It will also offer a full slate of soccer content, including all Liga MX matches, the full UEFA Champions League coverage (US only) and 10 additional and exclusive matches from the 2022 FIFA World Cup (Latin America only), bringing the total of streamed matches to 40, as well as soccer-themed documentaries, including a true crime series. Additionally, Televisa's distributor Videocine will produce original films for the premium tier, some of which will be available in both coverage zones, with others being exclusive to its Latin American subscribers.
Here's the full press release sent by the company.
Let's contextualize a bit: on April 2021, Televisa announced a deal with Univision Communications to merge most of its properties into a new binational company combining over 5,000 hours of original material (including its prized telenovela archive) and the direct operation of six networks in the US and Mexico (Univision, UniMás, Las Estrellas, FOROtv, Canal 5 and Nu9ve). As a condition of antitrust authorities in Mexico, Televisa had to retain its telecom, editorial and sports properties under their direct control, whilst having the majority stake in the merged company; the production of news and local programming, as well as the station licenses and technical infrastructure were warehoused to a separate company, Tritón Comunicaciones. The merger was approved with no need to divest any brand on September 2021 by the Mexican regulators, and on January by the FCC, the merger was completed at the end of that month, resulting on TelevisaUnivision. The merged company is led by Univision CEO Wade Davis (former Viacom CFO and owner of hedge fund ForgeLight, stakeholder of Univision) and Pierluigi Gazzolo (former Paramount Global CEO for Latin America) as the company's President. Alfonso de Angoitia is the Chairman of the merged company.
The principal need for the merger: create a superbrand for a new OTT platform designed for Spanish-speaking audiences worldwide, superseding blimTV in Mexico and PrendeTV/Univision Now in the US. The platform is named ViX, reusing the name of a former social media content provider for Hispanic audiences which had since evolved as a AVOD service resulting on the acquisition of a competing platform, Pongalo TV.
The service will launch in the U.S., Mexico and most of Hispanic Latin America on March 31st, as a free AVOD service using infrastructure provided by the Google Cloud Platform and SoftBank (which are also stakeholders in the merged company), replacing the aforementioned OTT services. Users of all three services in the U.S. and Mexico are able to use a beta version starting Wednesday. It will be complimented by a premium tier, ViX+, which will feature exclusive original content, set to launch this fall/autumn. The founder of the original VIX, Rafael Urbina, is the president of the new service, whilst former Netflix executive for Mexico, Rodrigo Mazón, is leading the premium content division. Michael Cerdá, which was behind the product and the UI of Disney+, ESPN+ and Star+, is leading the product and engineering process.
The freemium model used by Peacock is the core method of the service: the free tier will focus on existing Televisa and Univision properties, including its prized library of telenovelas, which have been exported to over 100 countries. The service will also offer a selected library of exports, all dubbed into Latin American Spanish, coming from providers like Caracol Televisión, Ay Yapım, Tims Productions, Lionsgate, MGM and The Walt Disney Studios (in a non-exclusive contract). The service is also offering a live channel offering, including over 100 services, both live and playlisted, with the more attractive offering being live news channels, three of which are being produced by the group: Univision's Noticias Univision 24/7, and two channels from Televisa/Tritón: FOROtv and a ViX-exclusive channel, and a sports-exclusive channel from TUDN, plus beIN Sports XTRA en Español (only available in the US). It will also stream 30 FTA matches from the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Latin American users, except in Argentina.
The ViX+ premium tier will offer such content, plus ad-free access, and original content from 3Pas Studios (owned by Eugenio Derbez and Ben Odell), Propagate, Mediacrest, Dynamo, Mediapro, Selena Gomez, Mario Vargas Llosa and Salma Hayek-Pinault, among others. It will also offer a full slate of soccer content, including all Liga MX matches, the full UEFA Champions League coverage (US only) and 10 additional and exclusive matches from the 2022 FIFA World Cup (Latin America only), bringing the total of streamed matches to 40, as well as soccer-themed documentaries, including a true crime series. Additionally, Televisa's distributor Videocine will produce original films for the premium tier, some of which will be available in both coverage zones, with others being exclusive to its Latin American subscribers.
Here's the full press release sent by the company.